The world’s principal Producers and Consumers of tropical timber
continued to grapple with contentious issues on the third
day of the UN Conference for the Negotiation of the Successor
Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement,
1994 (ITTA, 1994), Fourth Part. In the morning, Working Group I (WGI) continued
to debate the inclusion of “environmental
services” within the Preamble and Objectives, while Working Group
II (WGII) considered project activities of the Organization;
financial accounts; and statistics, studies and information.
In the afternoon, smaller sub-groups met informally to resolve
specific issues of contention.

Working
Group I

In the morning, WGI Chair Attah (Ghana) kept delegates
focused on outstanding issues in the Preamble and Objectives,
such as the inclusion of “environmental” or “ecological”
services and
managed to avoid re-opening agreed text.

Working
Group I discussed the objectives of the Agreement

Chair
Attah noted further consultation is
needed regarding a proposal to include text
on “promoting
the certification of tropical timber producing
forests and information sharing on voluntary
mechanisms”

The
EU and the US discuss with the Chair of WG1. Left
to right: Flip van Helden (The
Netherlands), John
Bazill, European Commission, WGI Chair Alhassan Attah,
Ghana, and Stephanie Caswell, US

Iwan
Krolis,
Suriname, favored one clear objective for ITTO in
the chapeau as opposed to two

John
Bazill, European Commission, favored
deleting “taking into account the
contribution of non-timber forest products
and ecological services”

James
K. Gasana, Switzerland proposed
discussing the issue of recognizing the
need for adequate and predictable financial
resources together with Articles 20 (Special
Account) and 21 (The Bali Partnership Fund)

The
session was adjourned for an hour while small groups
sought to reach compromise on specific contentious issues.
Japan led a group on sessions of the Council, and the US
led one on special
votes.

Switzerland
led a contact group on the inclusion of environmental services in the
chapeau and Objectives.

Working
Group II

Chair
Jürgen Blaser opened the meeting with proposed text
on Policy Work, Project Activities and Committees, and
then proceeded to proposals on Statistics, Studies and
Information. In the afternoon, delegates discussed the
financial accounts of the Organization and negotiated
a Chair's revised text on the Administrative Account, the Special
Account and the Bali Partnership Fund.

Chair
Jürgen Blaser presents proposed text on policy work
of the Organization

Chair
Jürgen Blaser

Daniel Birchmeier, Switzerland, supported Norway's proposal to
keep a list of activities for policy work

Juan
Carlos González, Venezuela, said
that accurate statistics are necessary but measures
short of suspension of voting rights might be preferable

Tony Bartlett, Australia, suggested using
“broadly” to qualify the contributions of policy
work to achieving objectives of ITTO

Mbella Mbella,Cameroon
pointed out that the article on statistics has three
levels of action: first a member must give an account
of their inability to provide statistics, then explain
reasons for this inaction, and then get restorative
support. He claims that this may allow too much latitude
to non-compliant countries

Freezailah
Che Yeom,
Malaysia said that all members are aware of the
difficulties and complexities of collecting forest
statistics, and that there are problems at the
outset, including classification of types of
timber

Bjorg Merethe Luis, Norway, said that the chair's new text
on Policy Work of the Organization
adds clarity and makes the article more balanced

Charlotte Cudby, New Zealand, said that a term such as “restorative” might
be better than “corrective” for actions appropriate for eliciting
provision of statistics and information from members

M.L.
Vernooij, Netherlands
said that policy work should meet ITTO
objectives for all members

Breakout
groups considered one of the paragraphs in the article
on statistics, studies and information, regarding the appropriate
actions of the Council for members unable or unwilling
to provide statistics and information